


Never Any Doubt

by FlusteredWriter



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Episode: s03 Chat Blanc, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-13
Updated: 2019-11-13
Packaged: 2021-01-30 02:30:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21420721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlusteredWriter/pseuds/FlusteredWriter
Summary: A rewrite of the ending of the Chat Blanc episode. Don't get me wrong, I loved it, but I felt it needed a little more emotion. Enjoy!
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 20
Kudos: 122





	Never Any Doubt

The akuma melts away from Chat Noir, and you make quick work of the butterfly as he returns to his original form. He cups his hands, letting the butterfly land before it flies away forever. The image captivates you: how tired your Chat looks, the delicate beauty of the white butterfly settled in the harsh, black leather of his costume. 

“Marinette,” he murmurs as the butterfly flies away, “I’m so sorry.”

“Wha- How do you still know my name? You’ve been de-akumatized…” You look down at the eraser in your hand, though it still offers you no clues. 

You hear one of Alix’s portals open up behind you. “Minibug, you did it! The future is restored! Now come quick, we can’t upset the balance of time much longer.”

“But Chat still knows who I am, how do I—" The eraser lights up in your hand, then Alix’s portal. “Of course! I have to fix my mistake in the past to truly fix the future.”

Chat Noir grabs your wrist as you turn to jump into Alix’s portal. “Marinette, wait—"

“I’m sorry, Chatton. I have to do this. Our identities must remain a secret, or look at the future we create.”

“I know, I don’t want to stop you, believe me,” he tells you, and the pain in his face is enough to make you cry. “This isn’t what I wanted for us. I’m so sorry.”

Without meaning to, you reach out and cup his face. “I could never blame you, Chat.”

He places his hand over yours. “Just… Say you love me, one more time.”

“Chatton—"

“I know, there’s another boy you love.” Strangely, there’s an amusement to his eyes instead of the usual hurt. “It’s okay if it’s not totally true; I just want to hear it one more time. You have no idea how much I love you, Marinette.”

His words knock the breath out of you; he’s so… genuine, so sad, a completely broken version of the Chat you know. It makes your heart hurt to know that some version of you had loved this version of him, and that love tore the two of you apart, brought the world to its knees, tore its way through the universe until there was nothing left. It strikes you then that by fixing the past, you would be effectively killing this Chat Noir.

“My nine lives are up, m’lady,” he says, reading your mind. “Do this last thing for me?”

“Minibug, come on, we gotta go,” Alix urges behind you. And she’s right; despite the presence of your resident time traveler, time is not on your side. 

Your feet seem to move on their own, and before you can really make the decision to do so, you’re placing a kiss on Chat Noir’s lips. It’s not like you haven’t done it before, but this is… different. He’s surprised at first, but he pulls you by your waist to deepen the kiss. Tears wet your cheeks, and it takes you a moment to realize that they’re not yours.

“I love you, Chatton,” you breathe against his lips, his forehead pressed against yours, eyes shut tight as tears stream down his face. “I’ll fix everything. I promise.”

His eyes meet yours, so sad, so full of love. “I know, Marinette. I never doubted it for a second.”

Alix grabs your arm, tugging you back into the portal. “I’m sorry, Marinette, we have to go.”

You barely get one last look at him before Alix is lowering the bowl over your head. He looks happy, almost. Calm, like what happens next will be okay. God, you hope it’ll all be okay.

\-----

Keeping a good face the rest of the day, in front of Adrien and all your friends, as both Ladybug and Marinette, is almost too much to bear, but you manage. Somehow.   
Chat is singing that song when you approach, which sends knives through your heart. He’s here, alive and well, akuma-free and as carefree as ever, but it still feels like you’ve lost him somehow. 

“M’lady? What’s wrong?” He must have heard you come up, and it’s not until he’s scrambled to stand and approach you that you realize the tears have finally spilled over.

“N-nothing!” Frantically, you wipe at your face, but the dam has broken, and the tears keep falling no matter how hard you will them to stop. 

“That doesn’t look like nothing,” he says, tentatively putting a hand on your arm. “Ladybug, what’s wrong? Did something happen, is that why you wanted to see me?”

It takes a moment for you to compose yourself, taking deep breaths to push the tears away. “No, I just… I wanted to tell you I did it.”

“Did what?”

“It’s not that important. But Chat, can you promise me something?”

He grins, that mischievousness you’re so familiar with easily making its way back into place. “Anything for you, Bugaboo.”

“Never tell me who you are.”

He blinks, confused. “Yeah, I know.”

“I mean it, Chat,” you press, desperate to prevent what you saw. “Never.”

“Okay—"

“Promise!”

“Okay, I promise!” He looks really worried now. “What’s all this about, Ladybug, what happened to you today?”

Another deep breath--you can cry later, in the privacy of your own bed. “Nothing happened today.” Technically not a lie. “I’m sorry. It’s just really important we keep our identities a secret, okay?”

“Okay,” he says, but he doesn’t look entirely convinced. Which is just fine; your explanation doesn’t need to satisfy him, he just needs to keep his promise. 

An awkward pause stretches out between the two of you as you find the words to say without giving to much away. It hasn’t been this weird between you two since… Well, since he first confessed to you. You always thought he just had some schoolboy crush on you, but after today, you’re starting to see how serious his feelings are for you. Or at least, how serious they can become, not just for Ladybug but for Marinette.

“Do you wanna patrol a little?” Chat asks, finally breaking the silence and pulling you out of your head. 

You look out over Paris, bathed in gold from the setting sun, so different from the flooded landscape you had just been in. “Could we just… watch the sunset a while?” 

“Sure.” He’s trying to put up a brave face for you, you can tell, but he’s obviously still worried about you. Once the two of you are settled, feet dangling over the ledge, you nudge his arm out of the way and lean into his side. It’s familiar and comforting, and though the future you saw weighs heavily on your soul, you start to take comfort in knowing that you can change it. Chat just has to keep his promise.

“Everything’s gonna be okay now, Chat.”

“I know, Ladybug. I never doubted it for a second.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is the very first fic I'm posting, pls be nice ahhh


End file.
